The pitch, part of a regular three-year review, is the first held in Japan following a global marketing overhaul by Unilever which places greater emphasis on local market understanding and consumer insight. "(Unilever) is looking at what's going on in the market and what it could be doing that's different," said one of the participating agencies.
Asatsu-DK and Hakuhodo, which handle buying for Unilever in Japan, are thought to have entered the pitch, alongside MindShare and Initiative. The business, overseeing media plans underpinning a recorded media spend of around US$150 million, is currently held by Initiative, which won the consolidated Japanese business in the last local pitch against MindShare held three years ago.
Traditional media remain very cluttered in Japan, but TV and print still tend to gain the lion's share of spend for brand-owners wooing the mass market. "The perception is that Japan is very high-tech," said a source. "It is, but in terms of media consumption, it tends to be quite traditional. The average Unilever consumer will still watch four-hours plus of TV a day."
